Leadership Text Set Guide

Students will compare Martin Luther King Jr. with another notable person famous for using their words to motivate others and make changes. You can choose to have your students focus on the biographies of these leaders, or on their speeches. The Martin Luther King Jr Leadership Text Set includes both speeches and bios for Cesar Chavez, John F. Kennedy, Malala Yousafzai, Barack Obama. In the following instructions, we will use Cesar Chavez as our example. You can choose to replace Cesar Chavez with a different leader.

Teacher Set-up

Edit the Write Prompt in the King article to say: "Cesar Chavez and Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. are both famous for the way they use words to motivate people and make change. What are three strategies that Dr. King and Chavez used to make their speeches powerful? Explain what the strategies were and why they were effective."

In the PRO assign box add these instructions to King's speech: "While reading, highlight powerful words or phrases in yellow. In the margins write a note explaining how you think the audience would have reacted to this word or phrase."

In the PRO assign box add these instructions to Chavez's speech: "While reading, highlight powerful words or phrases in yellow. In the margins write a note explaining how you think the audience would have reacted to this word or phrase."

Independent Work

When students have finished both articles, they should go back to the King article and complete the Write prompt. The annotations from both articles will help support their response.

Extension

Students can read the biographies of the two leaders next. Ask them to consider what events in their lives may have contributed to their strong leadership skills. You can find the biographies in the Martin Luther King Jr Leadership Text Set.

Activity 2: Comparing Life Stories

Edit the Write Prompt in the King article to say: "Cesar Chavez and Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. are both famous for leading strong civil rights movements. What are similar challenges that these leader faced? Identify at least two similar challenges and describe them using details from their biographies."